αtrαmentous - starless rewritten
by Conifeather
Summary: Sharp is the model stone-guard. All her life, her problems she solved by herself. She is the key. She is the powerful one. But when she walks under different heavens, Sharp will have to understand that sometimes answers lie with the dust and the shadows. OC SUBMISSION INFO ON PROFILE!


Prologue: How It All Began

The Tribe of Clear Skies is unforgiving as the stones that surround it. They are cold. They are exclusive. They focus on the present, their paws forever moving, shuffling to the horizon that is the future. They are the ones who craft their present and future. On a high, elevated piece of stone, they are the only group for miles around.

It wasn't always like this. Once upon a time, as all old stories begin, the tribe believed in an afterlife, where the ones who passed roamed the skies and watched over the living. There were few doubts that such a life did not exist.

But then a Skywatcher – the leader of the Tribe – chose to fall in love with a loner. Sleet had been quite the benevolent, trusted leader – yet he left with his tail loosely entwined with a silver-pelted tom, never looking back – not even once. He left his tribe in the paws of fate.

Needless to say, the tribe was thrown into chaos. With no heir chosen, the hawk-hunter and stone-guard factions turned on one another. Each feline within each faction claimed to be the right one for the throne. Eventually, however, the competition boiled down to: Snow that Settles on Stone from the hawk-hunter faction and Fire that Scares off Hawks from the stone-guard faction. These two were desperate to prove themselves, as both were the kit of the Skywatcher who left the tribe. And each bore a grudge against the other, for each had been born from a different mother, but they shared the same father. Even as to-bes, they had competed against one another. This was just like that, only on a large scale and high stakes. The bitter wounds festered and so did nasty rumors. Cats claimed that Snow and Fire saw this as a game.

This was not true. This was proved when Snow and Fire rallied up their allies and chose to fight and not talk. There had been no bloodshed up to this point. For the next few days and nights, however, the camp of the Tribe of Clear Skies would reek distinctly of iron.

The stone-guards expected an easy win. They were the ones who had the muscle. They were the ones who climbed up the stone cliffs and braved the farthest jumps. But when the moon fell down from the sky and red dawn arose from the ground, it was clear that the hawk-hunters had the upper hand. The stone-guards were in a disarray, trying to find orders when there were none. The hawk-hunters struck with nimble, precise pawsteps.

The battle was waged all night. When the sun began to rise, however, the fight's true core was being waged on the leader's perch. Snow and Fire shrieked and tumbled, each move like a deadly dance. Neither knew who would win, but both knew what would happen after the fight was won with certainty.

At long last, one finally managed to hit a blow fatal enough to end it all. Snow gave a howl and shot forward. Fire had no time to react when the hawk-hunter barreled into him.

_Snap._

Fire was gone. His body, his spirit – everything. He fell down into the yawning gorge behind the stone he and his half-sister had been fighting on.

The hawk-hunters were victorious. Snow finally took ahold of her throne. She started her reign by announcing that there would be no more belief in the _Tribe of Stars _they had foolishly put their trust in for generations. Her reasoning went like this: if the Tribe of Stars had been so powerful, why were they unable to stop things like this civil war happening? Why had they been unable to stop the former Skywatcher from leaving? The new Skywatcher ordered her tribemates to reject the stars – to only believe in the current moment. The Now.

Of course, this garnered a great deal of objection, especially from the older cats. Despite that, though, the idea blossomed like a dandelion – spreading its seeds to all corners of the tribe with a simple gust of wind. The Tribe of Clear Skies lived without belief from then on.

But these revolutions do not happen without consequence. Eventually, a stone-guard raised their head one day and discovered that the stars had left the sky. The disappearance of the stars was troubling somewhat. The tribe murmured amongst themselves. Nevertheless, they held onto the firm belief that this was a good sign – that they were finally free from the dead fools. And so, the tribe lived on. The stone-guards became downtrodden as the hawk-hunters stepped on them. But life raged on as a rushing river does. That is time for you.

But Skywatcher, even though she had practically torn through the fabric of her old life and gotten her own way, had forgotten to consider one thing.

Fire had had two kits; their names Night that Shadows Rivers and Morning that Comes Swiftly. These kits grew up listening to tales and whispers of the Tribe and Stars, as some were yet to be silenced. And, more importantly, they learned about their father and how he met his demise. All these stories were told by the elderly cats of the tribe, as the youth were too fearful of Skywatcher to speak of those two topics. (She threw her _half-brother _off a cliff. You would be scared if you were there.)

While Morning was quiet, Night was bold. She grew with a fire in her heart that could not be quenched nor ignored. Certainly, Skywatcher noticed when Night chose to be a stone-guard rather than a hawk-hunter. The white leader was never too far away from Night when the young molly was in camp. Outside, Skywatcher sent her most trusted hawk-hunters to be her eyes and ears.

Even with all this, Night's fire grew brighter and brighter – and stronger and stronger – until it could not be contained anymore.

Night plotted with her fellow stone-guards to overthrow Skywatcher and the hawk-hunter regime. Morning whispered to her sister for her to stop, that this would get the young she-cat killed. Her voice was drowned out in the crackle of wildfire.

And so, a second battle was waged. Skywatcher and the hawk-hunters were caught off-guard; Night's faction of the Tribe gained the upper hand. The black stone-guard, with a moment of courage and boldness, targeted the snowy-white pelt amidst the pandemonium. She clambered up the leader's perch and launched herself at Skywatcher. It turned out to be a moment of rash, thoughtless behavior when Skywatcher reared up as the black she-cat sailed towards her. The older white leader slammed her paws into the stone-guard's head.

There only was the remaining echo of a scream where Night had been a moment before.

Silence all across the plateau. All eyes were on Skywatcher. The leader ruffled out her pelt. She turned her gaze from the open-mouthed stone gap to the crowd, their jaws equally agape.

"That's where both of them belong," she growled.

After the furtive night passed, Skywatcher took ahold of her power. She ordered all the elders who told Night tales of her father and stars to be exiled. They were roughly escorted out of camp and presumably went on their separate ways. They never looked back at their former home as they were ushered out.

All seniors instantly lost respect afterwards. The younger generation of cats no longer saw them as wise advisors and the ones to turn to when there was trouble. They only saw the elderly as the ones who collected dust. Old, useless, purposeless. Old coots who spouted bouts of nonsensical verses.

As a result, the rank of elder disappeared completely. Most cats served as a stone-guard or hawk-hunter for life. Only a select few (called "the lazy ones" by most) became parts of a newly-formed council that advised the Skywatcher.

And so the tribe plodded on.

You would expect the story to begin now. But not yet. There is one more story that must be told before. You see, Night died, but Morning lived. She lived with the burdensome guilt that she wasn't able to save her sister. Her kits lived on with that heavy stone.

And of course, as life has it, generations passed. Along with blood, inexplicable fate was also passed down the line. There were two littermates who were born: Talon that Swipes at Hare and Dust that Rolls Across Stones. They grew up, as all kits do, and bloomed to be competent stone-guards.

But fate – (or was it his own decision?) caused Dust to become disillusioned to the cold, uneven life he lived in. He vowed to his sister that he would return for change one day. (Talon would later wish that she had asked for a firmer vow.) He left without turning his head to look back, even as his sister wished he would.

Talon waited. And waited. Over years, her fur became ragged and her muzzle showed hairs of white. And she had a kit of her own, a daughter. Who then had kits of her own. All the while, the bloodline of the two believers and a coward and their fates flowed from one generation to the next.

_A blue-gray molly crouches in the shade, peeking out from behind a boulder with wide amber eyes. She waggles her haunches before shooting forward and slamming her paws down. The shrew she was trying to hunt shoots off into the distance, letting out a squeak of distress. The young she-cat allows only a short hiss of irritation before turning to find something else. She _has_ to bring something back._

This is where our story begins.

**Clan of Clear Skies**

Prophet of Skies (Skywatcher) – large ginger and white tabby she-cat with amber eyes and a torn right ear (formerly known as Fox that Walks on Stone)

The Respected (Or: The Council)

Talon that Swipes at Hare (Talon) –tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

Moss that Grows on Rock (Moss) – gray and white tom with shredded ears

Spider that Spins Web at Dusk (Spider) – dark gray tabby tom with ragged fur

Fog that Rises at Dawn (Fog) – silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes and white paws and a fluffy tail

Stone-Guards

Shadow of Jumping Hare (Shadow) – black tom with sleek fur

Bird that Soars Through Storms (Bird) – ginger tabby she-cat with white paws

Hoot of White Owl (Hoot) – black and white she-cat

Warble of Early Bird (Warble) – dark brown tom with thick fur

Sharp Call of Mountain Eagle (Sharp) – blue-gray ticked tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Kite that Utters Piercing Cry (Kite) – blue-gray tabby tom with amber eyes

Soft Light of Dawn (Soft) – long-haired white she-cat

Hawk-Hunters

Snow that Falls on Trees (Snow) – small gray and white she-cat

Wind of Coming Storm (Wind) – dark ginger tabby tom

Shallows of Calm Stream (Shallows) – blue-gray tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Red of Bright Dawn (Red) – russet tom with blue eyes

Ice that Settles on Cliff (Ice) – lithe white she-cat with gray patches

Glow of Setting Sun (Glow) – cream tom with green eyes

Blaze of Great Wildfire (Blaze) – black and white she-cat

To-Bes

Tangle of Wolf's Fur (Tangle) – long-haired gray tom

Clouds Over Mountains (Cloud)– long-haired white tom with a notably plumy tail

Shrew that Darts Through Grass (Shrew) – small brown tom

Pebble that Shines Underwater (Pebble) – dark brown tabby she-cat with hazel eyes

Kit-Mothers

Flower of Golden Meadow (Flower) – ginger and white tabby she-cat (mother to Wind's kits: Tumble and Rush)

Kits

Tumbling Falls that Splash Great Waters (Tumble) – dark ginger tabby she-cat with white paws and chest

Rushing Rivers where Salmon Leap (Rush) – white and ginger tom

**Cats outside of the clans**

**Settlers**

Asher – white and pale gray she-cat (the leader)

Rushmore – ticked ginger tabby she-cat with white paws

Leaf – golden tabby she-cat with green eyes

Flicker – long-haired white and ginger tabby tom

Starling – black she-cat with a white chin and tail tip

Wasp – golden tabby tom

Petal – cream spotted tabby she-cat

Panther – thick-furred black she-cat

Tavern – white tom with a long scar running down his face

**Others**

Sandpiper – white and brown spotted tabby tom

Salem – black she-cat

Icarus – ginger tabby tom

RillClan


End file.
